Today, I’ve come out to test.... is bracketing is better or is using ND grads better.
We’ll find out.
Today, I've come to Widdop Reservoir.
What I’m here for, what I want to test out, something I’ve been thinking about for a
little while now and that is, do you need ND grad filters?
I’ve talked about this before and I haven't been using them.
But I get a lot of comments telling me that people don't like bracketing, they don't like
HDR and they use ND grad filters.
I wanted to test it out to try and find out whether they are required.
So, today, I’ve come out and it's the middle of the day.
I’m on a scouting mission, here at Widdop Reservoir.
When conditions are bright like this, it's not the best time to shoot.
It’s around midday now.
There’s no clouds in the sky either but you can still get a half decent shots.
The way to do it just make sure the sun is behind you, which it is here.
I’ve got the camera setup over Widdop Reservoir and I’m going to go for a very, very simple
shot.
I’m at about 40mm.
It is going to be looking out over the reservoir with that nice, dark blue reservoir and that
nice, bright blue sky.
Before we get into that though I think we just need to talk a little bit about post-processing
and what some people see as cheating.
Now, Ansel Adams, one of the best landscape photographers of all time, said that there
are three stages to making a photograph.
The first one is in camera and that's what a lot of people put a lot of emphasis on.
But there are two other stages.
Secondly is the post-processing, what would have been in the darkroom.
The third stage is the print.
So you’ve got those three full stages to making a photograph.
It's no different today.
We’ve got the in camera bit, the post-processing, which is just digital now and then the print
at the end, hopefully, if you are printing your work and you definitely, definitely should.
There is no such thing as an unprocessed image, there just isn’t.
It definitely isn't cheating.
A raw file when that comes out of the camera is unprocessed and is not ready to be looked
at.
It is just digital data that comes out of the camera that needs to have things applied
to in processing very much like when a negative came out of a film camera in the in the day
after it was processed in the lab.
There are a lot of people claiming ‘I like to get it right in camera’.
Now fair enough.
If you want to get as much right in camera, as possibly you can, then do so.
But, if you're claiming that as some sort of a higher ethical or moral or some sort
of higher claim because you’re getting it all right in camera, then just understand
that, if you’re not processing raw files, the files are going to look dreadful anyway,
if you’re doing it with JPEG, then your camera is still applying some post processing.
It is adding saturation, it’s adding contrast, it’s adding sharpness and they're the things
that you generally will want to add in post-processing anyway.
There is just no way you can really get an unprocessed or un-manipulated image.
So, let's just forget about that.
Where we start going into areas of cheating, I think, is when you actually adjust the landscape.
So, if you start cloning things in, cloning things out, that's when we start to get into
areas of cheating but, actually, using your artistic vision to create a photograph from
the landscape that you see that involves processing and is all part of the artistic process.
Another thing that Ansel Adams said is that a photograph does not totally represent the
scene in front of you.
That's the artistic vision coming from the photographer and you're using that landscape
as the focus of your art.
The perspective you use on the camera, whether you use a wide-angle or more narrow-angle,
the low perspective, high perspective, all that type of thing will change the way the
landscape looks.
The distance between the camera and the actual landscape is what, actually, changes the perspective.
But all the different things will result in landscape looking different, which is why,
if you get two landscape photographers right next to each other in the same landscape,
those pictures will often look really, really different.
So, that aside, I wanted to test whether you, actually, need ND grads because I have a little
issue with them.
There are pros and cons to it.
The pros are that you are getting a little bit more right in camera and you’re not
having to rely on post-processing.
On the con side, and I think there are more, is that they are a faff to use, they're expensive
and I hear a lot of people, a lot of photographers running workshops and things, selling ND grads
to absolute beginners when they just don't need them.
It’s just making money for the sake of it on people's belief that they actually need
ND grads.
I, generally, don't think they do, certainly, in the early stage.
There is nothing wrong with them.
If you choose, after a little of experience, to invest in some ND grads, then that's what
you should do.
I don't use filter systems at all.
I prefer the screw-on filters.
I use a lot of ND filters for long exposure and you might want to have a filter system
for that.
You can then buy the adapter rings to put on the front of your lenses and then slide
the filters in and out.
That’s the same for the ND grads.
I just prefer to have screw-on filters because, I think, there is much less faff and I just
prefer them.
But that’s just me.
Anyway, let’s get back to what we’re here and that is to take these images and see what
difference it makes between the ND grad software and the ND grad hardware and does bracketing
make a difference as well and will that really replace an ND grad.
Right, I’ve got my shot composed and I’ve got the focus locked in so that doesn't change
between the three different types of shot we’re going to take.
The first one is just going to be a straight image, well exposed and without anything done
to it.
I haven’t got any filters on the front at the moment.
I haven’t got a polariser on or anything like that so it is just this Canon 5D Mark
IV doing its thing.
Secondly, we will then use the ND filter.
This is two stop ND filter.
We will slide that on and see what that does.
Then the third one I will bracket two stops either side of this original exposure.
So, let’s give it a go.
We will go with first one.
I’m already set up.
I’m going to use the two second timer to shoot the image.
That's done so we will then slide the ND filter in to the front just here and make sure I’ve
got on the horizon line in right place.
There we go and then shoot the second image, just like that.
Then we will take that back out and go with the bracketing.
So I just need to hit the Q button here roll, my brackets up to 2 stops either side.
I'm in manual mode and F8 because I haven't any foreground interest in this.
I’m zoomed in on to the water.
I’m at 1/320 of the second.
iso 100, as always a landscape photography, and then I’m going to shoot that bracketed
images.
The shots are in the can.
Ok the shots are in the can...Let’s get back to the studio out of this Yorkshire wind and see what difference there is in those
shots.
We’re back in the studio.
I think we just need to get straight to the computer and have a look at those images.
Okay, so here we are and I had to get a little spiny thing in there didn’t I?
These are the three images.
This one here is the HDR, which I've already edited.
This is the one with the ND grad and this is the straight up shot from the Canon 5D
MkIV.
So let’s have a look at what I’ve done so far.
I have done very simple edit: just really minor adjustments.
They were underexposed a little bit but that is not a problem.
I have then added a software grad and with this high dynamic range shot, I’ve got some
real nice control over that.
I like that shot.
I like the effect of that ND grad. iI’s perfect.
There’s is no noise in there or anything like that and that's what I like about bracketing.
Let's go back to the grid and go to this one.
What I’m, actually, going to do is copy the settings from this one and then just paste
them onto the one with the ND, which is what this is, because what I did was use exactly
the same exposure settings.
So, I'm going to paste that.
Those settings go in and what I’m going to do is just go into the graduated filter,
delete that and then we will have a direct comparison.
Let's just go and do that for the straight up shot from the Canon 5D Mk IV and this time
we can leave that in because this one didn't have the ND grad filter on there.
I’m going to leave the software version in there.
So, let's go back to the grid and we’ll compare all three.
As you can see, we’ve gone two stops down on this one and this one, with the software,
and this has a two stop ND grad filter.
You can see there is somewhat of a difference.
So, either the software is getting it wrong or that’s not quite two stops or it’s
two stops right to the edge of the glass and I haven't had it pulled all the way down.
It is likely that that's probably about one stop.
We can see, I think, if we go full screen, that I prefer that one because I like the
slightly darker sky.
I could add a software grad but that then defeats the purpose of having the grad there
in the first place.
I think that is a better shot than that.
That has added, also, a bit of a colour cast as well.
You can see the colour is slightly different from the other two without that filter and
they're very similar.
It doesn't really give the perfect example of when to use bracketing because, as you
can see, the straight up image has done a perfectly good job as it is.
When you’ve got more extreme lighting conditions, bracketing can be really useful.
That's the bracketed shot.
It doesn't have that so-called HDR look.
A lot of people seem to be either confused or concerned that just because you create
a HDR it doesn't have to have that HDR look.
It still looks realistic.
It doesn't make it an unpleasant image at all.
Some people have been very concerned about that and I'm not quite sure why.
So, I really can't see any improvement or increased quality in the shot that has used
the ND grads.
The software version seems to be doing really good job.
Okay, so for me that pretty much settles it.
I can't see any benefit of using that hardware ND grad filter.
I prefer the ND grad software filter and that’s what I’m going to continue to do with bracketing.
I think that is a better option, especially, if you're a beginner.
Don't go straightaway and invest in the ND grad filters because that's what people think
you need to do or tell you you need to do.
Go ahead and give bracketing a try.
If you then later want to pick it up, like I said earlier, then go-ahead and do so.
There’s definitely nothing wrong with using them.
I'm not saying that.
Also, when I was out and about earlier, I took a couple of other images, long exposure
is where it’s at for me, and I took this image and this image.
Both long exposures: one with some circular polarising, one without.
I can’t decide which I like better but I thought I would just share that image because
I capture that today and I was really quite pleased with it.
Also, I’d love to hear from you down in the comments.
Let me know what you think.
Has this changed your opinion of ND grad filters or of bracketing?
I’d really love to hear from you.
What your thoughts?
Please let me know.
Also, subscribe to the channel, if you haven't done so already.
I’ll see you on another one, out and about again on a normal type vlog very soon.
I’m Adam.
This is First Man Photography…out.